CHAPTER 3 VALUES, ATTITUDES, AND JOB SATISFACTION LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, students should be able to: 1. Contrast terminal and instrumental values 2. List the dominant values in todays workforce 3. Identify the five value dimensions of national culture 4. Contrast the three components of an attitude 5. Summarize the relationship between attitudes and behavior 6. Identify the role consistency plays in attitudes 7. State the relationship between job satisfaction and behavior 8. Identify four employee responses to dissatisfaction

TEXT OUTLINE
I. Introduction A. Workplace Attitudes 1. Nina Luian elementary school teacher at P.S. 234 in New York City. a) I work in a terrific school, says Nina. Collaboration is encouraged, and were given the time to sit together and bounce ideas off one anotherto be a think tank. 2. Lori Gauntmanages a bakery and cafe in Seattle. a) I feel as if my opinions count a lot, and Ive been instrumental in making changes. The owner isnt hands-off, but she loves what I do and tells me to run with it. 3. A recent Gallup poll of Americans nationwide a) 72% rated their level of satisfaction with their place of employment at 4 or 5. (1) The jobs were generally meeting the primary needs of workers. (2) Factors critical to their satisfaction and job performance: the opportunity to do what they do best; having their opinions count; and getting the opportunity to learn and grow. b) Eighty-two respondents indicated they had the opportunity to do what they do best every day, and 84% said they had the opportunity to learn and grow on the job. 4. Studies consistently show that workers are satisfied with their jobs. a) Between 70 and 80% report theyre satisfied with their jobs. 5. There was some concern in the late 1970s that satisfaction was declining. a) Recent reinterpretations of these data and additional longitudinal studies indicate that job satisfaction levels have held steady for decades. 6. Why? a) What people want from their jobs, they seem to be getting it. b) People tend to gravitate toward jobs that are compatible with their interests, values, and abilities. c) Based on our knowledge of cognitive dissonance theory, we might expect employees to resolve inconsistencies between dissatisfaction with their jobs and their staying with those jobs by not reporting the dissatisfaction.

Teaching Notes ___________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ II. Values A. Introduction 1. Answers to some questions are value laden. 2. Valuesconvictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence. a) There is a judgmental element of what is right, good, or desirable. b) Values have both content and intensity attributes. (1) The content attribute says that a mode of conduct or end-state of existence is important.
37

(2) The intensity attribute specifies how important it is. c) Ranking an individuals values in terms of their intensity equals that persons value system. 3. Values are not generally fluid and flexible. They tend to be relatively stable and enduring. a) A significant portion of the values we hold is established in our early yearsfrom parents, teachers, friends, and others. 4. The process of questioning our values, of course, may result in a change. B. Importance of Values 1. Values lay the foundation for the understanding of attitudes and motivation because they influence our perceptions. 2. Values generally influence attitudes and behavior. C. Types of Values 1. Rokeach Value Survey a) Created by Milton Rokeach. b) It consists of two sets of values, with each set containing 18 individual value items. (1) One setterminal valuesrefers to desirable end-states of existence, the goals that a person would like to achieve during his/her lifetime. (2) The otherinstrumental valuesrefers to preferable modes of behavior, or means of achieving the terminal values. (3) Exhibit 3-1 gives common examples for each of these sets. 2. Several studies confirm that the RVS values vary among groups. a) People in the same occupations or categories tend to hold similar values. b) A good deal of overlap was found among some groups. c) There were also some very significant differences. (1) See Exhibit 3-2. 3. Contemporary work cohorts a) Your author has integrated a number of recent analyses of work values into a four-stage model. (1) Attempts to capture the unique value of different cohorts the U.S. workforce (2) Exhibit 3-3employees are segmented by the era in which they entered the workforce. 4. ProtestantWorkers who entered the workforce from the early 1940s through the early 1960s a) Influenced by the Great Depression and World War II b) Believe in the Protestant work ethic c) Tend to be loyal to their employer d) Terminal values (1) Comfortable life and family security 5. ExistentialEmployees who entered the workforce during the 1960s through the mid-1970s. a) Influenced heavily by John F. Kennedy, the civil rights movement, the Beatles, the Vietnam War, and baby-boom competition b) Hippie ethic and existential philosophy c) Concerned with the quality of their lives rather than with money and possessions d) Desire for autonomy has directed their loyalty toward themselves. e) Terminal values (1) Freedom and equality Teaching Notes ___________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. PragmaticIndividuals who entered the workforce from the mid-1970s through the late 1980s. a) Reflect a return to more traditional values, but with far greater emphasis on achievement and material success
38

b) Strongly influenced by Reagan conservatism, the defense buildup, dual-career households, and $150,000 starter homes c) Pragmatists who believe that ends can justify means d) Organizations that employ them are seen merely as vehicles for their careers e) Terminal values (1) A sense of accomplishment and social recognition 7. Generation X a) Shaped by globalization, the fall of communism, MTV, AIDS, and computers b) Value flexibility, a balanced lifestyle, and the achievement of job satisfaction c) Family and relationships are very important to this cohort. d) Money is important as an indicator of career performance, but they will trade off salary increases, titles, security, and promotions for increased leisure time and expanded lifestyle options. e) In search of balance in their lives, less willing to make personal sacrifices for their employer f) Terminal values (1) True friendship, happiness, and pleasure 8. An understanding that individuals values differ but tend to reflect the societal values of the period in which they grew up can be a valuable aid in explaining and predicting behavior. a) Employees in their late 30s and 60s, for instance, are more likely to be conservative and accepting of authority than their existential coworkers in their early 50s. b) And workers under 35 more likely than the other groups to balk at have to work overtime or weekends and more prone to leave a job in mid-career to pursue another that provides more leisure time. CONSIDER THE WEB Ethics are increasingly important in business both in terms of management and employee behavior. Have students conduct an Internet search of the topic using the terms business ethics or employee ethics. If students need a starting point, suggest they go to http://bnet.bentley.edu/dept/cbe/centers.html, a web site maintained by Bentley College that links to numerous business ethics sites both domestic and international. D. Values, Loyalty, and Ethical Behavior 1. Many people think there has been a decline in business ethics since the late 1970s. 2. The four-stage model of work cohort values might explain this perception. 3. The values of management should have a significant bearing on an organizations ethical climate. a) Through the mid-1970s, the managerial ranks were dominated by Stage I managers. b) Beginning in the late 1970s, individuals with existential values began to rise into management. c) Followed by pragmatic types d) By the late 1980s, a large portion of management positions were held by people from Stages II and III. 4. The loyalty of existentials and pragmatics is to self and careers, respectively. a) Such self-centered values would be consistent with a decline in ethical standards. 5. The potential good newsrecent entrants to the workforce, and tomorrows senior managers, appear to be less self-centered. E. Values across Cultures 1. Values differ across cultures; therefore, understanding these differences helps to explain and to predict behavior of employees from different countries. 2. A framework for assessing cultures a) One of the most widely referenced approaches for analyzing variations among cultures has been done by Geert Hofstede. Teaching Notes ___________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________
39

________________________________________________________________________________________

40

3. Five value dimensions of national culture a) Power distance. The degree to which people in a country accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally. b) Individualism versus collectivism (1) Individualism is the degree to which people in a country prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups. (2) Collectivism equals low individualism. c) Quantity of life versus quality of life (1) Quantity of life is the degree to which values such as assertiveness, the acquisition of money and material goods, and competition prevail. (2) Quality of life is the degree to which people value relationships and show sensitivity and concern for the welfare of others. d) Uncertainty avoidance. The degree to which people in a country prefer structured over unstructured situations. e) Long-term versus short-term orientation. Long-term orientations look to the future and value thrift and persistence. Short-term orientation values the past and present and emphasizes respect for tradition and fulfilling social obligations. 4. Exhibit 3-4 provides a summary of how a number of countries rate on these five dimensions. 5. Cultural values change slowly. a) The ratings in Exhibit 3-4 are general guidelines that need to be modified over time. b) A recent follow-up to Hofstedes study confirmed much of the original findings but also found that transformational changes have made their way into various cultural values. (1) Mexico has moved in 30 years from an emphasis on collectivism to individualism. (2) United States values have shifted from quantity of life to quality. 6. Implications for OB a) Americans have developed organizational behavior within domestic contexts. b) Follow-up studies continue to confirm the lack of cross-cultural considerations in management and OB research. c) Therefore (1) not all OB theories and concepts are universally applicable. (2) you should take into consideration cultural values when trying to understand the behavior of people in different countries. (3) To help, well regularly stop to consider the generalizability of theories and concepts to different cultures. Teaching Notes ___________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ III. Attitudes A. Defined and Described 1. Attitudes are evaluative statements either favorable or unfavorableconcerning objects, people, or events. a) They reflect feelings. 2. Attitudes are not the same as values, but the two are interrelated. a) The belief that discrimination is wrong is a value statement and the cognitive component of an attitude. b) It sets the stage for the more critical part of an attitudeits affective component. Affect is the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude. c) The behavioral component of an attitude refers to an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something. 3. Viewing attitudes as made up of three components helps understanding of the potential relationship between attitudes and behavior. a) But attitude essentially refers to the affect part of the three components.
41

4. In contrast to values, your attitudes are less stable. 5. In organizations, attitudes are important because they affect job behavior. B. Types of Attitudes 1. OB focuses our attention on a very limited number of job-related attitudes. a) Most of the research in OB has been concerned with three attitudes: job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment. 2. Job satisfaction a) It is an individuals general attitude toward his/her job. b) A high level of job satisfaction equals positive attitudes toward the job and vice versa. c) Employee attitudes and job satisfaction are frequently used interchangeably. 3. Job involvement a) A recent addition to the OB literature. b) A workable definitionthe measure of the degree to which a person identifies psychologically with his/her job and considers his/her perceived performance level important to self-worth. c) High levels of job involvement (1) Fewer absences and lower resignation rates (2) More consistently predicts turnover than absenteeis 4. Organizational commitment a) A state in which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals, and wishes to maintain membership in the organization b) As with job involvement, the research evidence demonstrates negative relationships between organizational commitment and both absenteeism and turnover. c) An individuals level of organizational commitment is a better indicator of turnover than the far more frequently used job satisfaction predictor because it is a more global and enduring response to the organization as a whole than is job satisfaction. 5. This evidence, most of which is more than two decades old, needs to be qualified to reflect the changing employee-employer relationship. a) Organizational commitment is probably less important as a job-related attitude than it once was. b) In its place, we might expect something akin to occupational commitment to become a more relevant variable because it better reflects todays fluid workforce. Teaching Notes ___________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ THE NEWS Attitudes around the World SUMMARY Employees throughout the world seem to share similar opinions about working conditions and their workplace needs according to a recent survey of more than 10,000 workers from 13 industrialized nations, including Western Europe, Japan, Russia, and the United States. Employees identified the same five key attributes for a good job: Balance between work and family Work that is interesting Security for the future Good pay Enjoyable and friendly coworkers The first two were rated as most important in every country, except in Russia where pay was the highest priority. More than 33% of the respondents said they would leave their current job for a 10% pay increase. But a striking 44% would change jobs for a position with more potential for advancement and growth.
42

Teaching notes: 1. Prior to discussing this information verbally, survey the students in your class regarding this issue. 2. Have students write their top 5 [or 10] issues regarding the workplace. 3. Quickly go around the room, and have each student report one of his/her criteria. 4. Record it on the board. 5. Continue going around the room until you get everyones ideas. Use your judgment to combine similar sounding criteria. [But, when you do, ask permission of the student who shared the term/criterion by saying, This sounds somewhat like . Is it okay if I combine it with this term/characteristic? This affirms the student, acknowledges his/her contribution, and condenses your list. 6. Now have the students vote on their top three [of five] or top five [of ten]. Count the raised hands; record the number next to the item. 7. Identify the top 35 items based on the number of votes. 8. Now discuss how similar/dissimilar their criteria are to the international survey. C. Attitudes and Consistency 1. People sometimes change what they say so it doesnt contradict what they do. a) Research has generally concluded that people seek consistency among their attitudes and between their attitudes and their behavior. 2. Individuals seek to reconcile divergent attitudes and align their attitudes and behavior so they appear rational and consistent. a) When there is an inconsistency, forces are initiated to return the individual to an equilibrium state where attitudes and behavior are again consistent, by altering either the attitudes or the behavior, or by developing a rationalization for the discrepancy. b) Tobacco executives provide an example. D. Cognitive Dissonance Theory 1. Leon Festinger, in the late 1950s, proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance, seeking to explain the linkage between attitudes and behavior. a) Dissonance means an inconsistency. b) Cognitive dissonance refers to any incompatibility that an individual might perceive between two or more of his/her attitudes, or between his/her behavior and attitudes. 2. Festinger argued that any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and that individuals will attempt to reduce the dissonance. a) No individual can completely avoid dissonance. b) The desire to reduce dissonance would be determined by: (1) the importance of the elements creating the dissonance. (2) the degree of influence the individual believes he/she has over the elements. (3) the rewards that may be involved in dissonance. 3. If the elements creating the dissonance are relatively unimportant, the pressure to correct this imbalance will be low. 4. The degree of influence also impacts reactions to the dissonance. a) If the dissonance is perceived as an uncontrollable result, they are less likely to be receptive to attitude change. b) While dissonance exists, it can be rationalized and justified. 5. High rewards accompanying high dissonance tend to reduce the tension inherent in the dissonance. 6. Moderating factors suggest that individuals will not necessarily move to reduce dissonance. 7. Organizational implications a) Greater predictability of the propensity to engage in attitude and behavioral change b) The greater the dissonanceafter it has been moderated by importance, choice, and rewards factorsthe greater the pressures to reduce it. Teaching Notes ___________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________
43

________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________

44

E. Measuring the A-B Relationship 1. Early research on attitudes and common sense assumed a causal relationship to behavior. 2. In the late 1960s, this assumed relationship between attitudes and behavior (A-B) was challenged. a) In an evaluation of a number of studies that investigated the A-B relationship, the reviewer concluded that attitudes were unrelated to behavior or, at best, only slightly related. b) More recent research has demonstrated that attitudes significantly predict future behavior. 3. The most powerful moderators a) The importance. Reflects fundamental values, self-interest, or identification with individuals or groups that a person values. b) Its specificity. The more specific the attitude and the more specific the behavior, the stronger the link between the two. c) Its accessibility. Attitudes that are easily remembered are more likely to predict behavior than attitudes that are not accessible in memory. d) Whether social pressures exist. Discrepancies between attitudes and behavior are more likely to occur where social pressures to behave in certain ways hold exceptional power. (1) This tends to characterize behavior in organizations. e) Whether a person has direct experience with the attitude. The attitude-behavior relationship is likely to be much stronger if an attitude refers to an individuals direct personal experience. 4. Self-perception theory a) Researchers have achieved still higher correlations by pursuing whether or not behavior influences attitudes. b) When asked about an attitude toward some object, individuals recall their behavior relevant to that object and then infer their attitude from their past behavior. (1) Self-perception theory argues that attitudes are used to make sense out of an action. (2) And contrary to cognitive dissonance theory, attitudes are just casual verbal statements. 5. Self-perception theory has been well supported. a) While the traditional attitude-behavior relationship is generally positive, the behavior-attitude relationship is stronger. (1) This is particularly true when attitudes are vague and ambiguous. Teaching Notes ___________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ F. An Application: Attitude Surveys 1. The most popular method for getting information about employee attitudes is through attitude surveys. 2. Exhibit 3-5 illustrates what an attitude survey might look like. 3. Results from attitude surveys can frequently surprise management. a) Example of the managers at the Heavy-Duty Division of Springfield Remanufacturing 4. Using attitude surveys on a regular basis provides managers with valuable feedback on how employees perceive their working conditions. a) Policies and practices that management views as objective and fair may be seen as inequitable by employees in general or by certain groups of employees b) Employee behaviors are often based on perceptions, not reality. c) The use of regular attitude surveys can alert management to potential problems and employees intentions early so that action can be taken to prevent repercussions? Teaching Notes ___________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________
45

G. Attitudes and Workforce Diversity 1. A survey of U.S. organizations with 100 or more employees found that 47% or so of them sponsored some sort of diversity training. a) These diversity programs include a self-evaluation phase. b) People are pressed to examine themselves and to confront ethnic and cultural stereotypes they might hold. 2. Additional activities designed to change attitudes include arranging for people to do volunteer work in community or social service centers in order to meet face to face with individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds and using exercises that let participants feel what its like to be different. FROM CONCEPTS TO SKILLS Changing Attitudes SUMMARY Sometimes you can change unfavorable employee attitudes depending on who you are, the strength of the employees attitude, the magnitude of the change, and the technique you choose to try to change the attitude. Youre more likely to change an employees attitude if that employee sees you as believable, knowledgeable about what youre talking about, and unbiased in your presentation. Successful attitude change is enhanced when you present your arguments dearly and persuasively. Its easier to change an employees attitude if he/she isnt strongly committed to it. Conversely, the stronger the belief about the attitude, the harder it is to change it. It is easier to change attitudes when that change isnt very significant. All attitude-change techniques are not equally effective across situations. Oral persuasion techniques are most effective when you use a positive, tactful tone; present strong evidence to support your position; tailor your argument to the listener; use logic; and support your evidence by appealing to the employees fears, frustrations, and other emotions. But people are more likely to embrace change when they can experience it. Teaching notes 1. This exercise draws several elements together, individual reasons for attitudes, what management can really do about them, and an opportunity to create strategies for shaping employee attitudes. 2. Offer students the following scenario: Able Box Company must go through reorganization. No one will be laid off but the reorganization will remove some long-standing managers from their jobs and reduce them to professional-level employees. Several of the managers affected are key contributors to the organization. The President has simply decided it will lead to many advantages to consolidate departments. Needless to say, those losing their responsibilities are not happy. It is important that the key managers do not quit. What do you think the attitudes are among the affected managers, and what is their level of organizational commitment? How can the company do the reorganization and rebuild positive attitudes and organizational commitment among those affected? 3. Have students discuss and decide on what the prevailing attitude(s) are and the level of organizational commitment. 4. On the board, lay out an attitude analysis; write a summary statement of the attitude/commitment of the managers. Underneath it, create two columns: forces leading to change and forces resisting change. 5. Through class discussion, have students think first about what things might cause employees to resist any company effort to rebuild positive attitudes and commitment. Then have them think about what elements cause employees to be willing to become more positive. 6. Now have students decide which elementsboth positive and negativethe company and its executives really control. Can the executives affect managerial attitudes? To what degree? What could they do? 7. Help students draw on text material as they create these liststhe nature of values, cohort membership, previous experience, etc. IV. Job Satisfaction A. Measuring Job Satisfaction 1. Weve previously defined job satisfaction as an individuals general attitude toward his/her job.

46

a) Jobs require interaction with co-workers and bosses, following organizational rules and policies, meeting performance standards, living with working conditions that are often less than ideal, and the like. b) This means that an employees assessment of how satisfied or dissatisfied he or she is with his/her job is a complex summation of a number of discrete job elements. 2. The two most widely used approaches are a single global rating and a summation score made up of a number of job facets. a) The single global rating method is nothing more than asking individuals to respond to one question, such as All things considered, how satisfied are you with your job? b) A summation of job facets is more sophisticated. (1) It identifies key elements in a job and asks for the employees feelings about each. (2) Typical factors that would be included are the nature of the work, supervision, present pay, promotion opportunities, and relations with co-workers. c) Simplicity seems to work as well as complexity. Comparisons of one-question global ratings with the summation-of-job-factors method indicate both are valid. Teaching Notes ___________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ MYTH OR SCIENCE? Happy Workers Are Productive Workers SUMMARY The myth that happy workers are productive workers developed in the 1930s and 1940s, due to the Hawthorne studies at Western Electric. A careful review of the research indicates that, if there is a positive relationship between happiness (i.e., satisfaction) and productivity, the correlations are low; no more than 2% of the variance in output can be accounted for by employee satisfaction. The evidence, however, is for the reverse productive workers are likely to be happy workers. That is, productivity leads to satisfaction rather than the other way around. If the organization rewards productivity, these rewards, in turn, increase your level of satisfaction with the job. Teaching notes 1. Brainstorm with students, situations where they know workers/employees were unhappy with the company or their jobs but still did a reasonably good job. Perhaps insights into their own feelings about their school, or a particular class and that they still tried very hard, might connect. 2. Discuss why someone who is unhappy with his/her job might work hard at it and do good work. 3. Why would someone who is happy with his/her job not perform at a higher level than the disgruntled worker? 4. Students should come to realize that most effort comes from internal drive, not external motivation. As a result, a highly internally motivated individual might perform well in any circumstance whereas his/her organizational environment would not positively affect a noninternally motivated individual. B. The Effect of Job Satisfaction on Employee Performance 1. Managers interest in job satisfaction tends to center on its effect on employee performance. 2. Satisfaction and productivity a) Happy workers arent necessarily productive workers; the evidence suggests that productivity is likely to lead to satisfaction. b) At the organization level, there is renewed support for the original satisfaction-performance relationship. (1) Organizations with more satisfied employees tend to be more effective. (2) It might be true that happy organizations are more productive. 3. Satisfaction and absenteeism a) We find a consistent negative relationship between satisfaction and absenteeism.
47

b) It makes sense that dissatisfied employees are more likely to miss work, but other factors have an impact on the relationship and reduce the correlation coefficient. c) Sears, Roebuck study

48

4. Satisfaction and turnover a) Satisfaction is also negatively related to turnover, but the correlation is stronger than what we found for absenteeism. b) Again, other factors such as labor market conditions, expectations about alternative job opportunities, and length of tenure with the organization are important constraints on the actual decision to leave ones current job. c) Evidence indicates that an important moderator of the satisfaction-turnover relationship is the employees level of performance. Teaching Notes ___________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ C. How Employees Can Express Dissatisfaction 1. Exhibit 3-6 offers four responses that differ from one another along two dimensions: constructiveness/destructiveness and activity/passivity. a) Exit: Behavior directed toward leaving the organization, including looking for a new position as well as resigning. b) Voice: Actively and constructively attempting to improve conditions, including suggesting improvements, discussing problems with superiors, and some forms of union activity. c) Loyalty: Passively but optimistically waiting for conditions to improve, including speaking up for the organization in the face of external criticism, and trusting the organization and its management to do the right thing. d) Neglect: Passively allowing conditions to worsen, including chronic absenteeism or lateness, reduced effort, and increased error rate. 2. Exit and neglect behaviors encompass our performance variablesproductivity, absenteeism, and turnover. a) Voice and loyalty constructive behaviors allow individuals to tolerate unpleasant situations or to revive satisfactory working conditions. b) It helps us to understand situations, such as those sometimes found among unionized workers, where low job satisfaction is coupled with low turnover. D. Job Satisfaction and OCB 1. It seems logical to assume that job satisfaction should be a major determinant of an employees organizational citizenship behavior. 2. More recent evidence, however, suggests that satisfaction influences OCB, but through perceptions of frames. 3. There is a modest overall relationship between job satisfaction and OCB. 4. Basically, job satisfaction comes down to conceptions of fair outcomes, treatment, and procedures. Teaching Notes ___________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________

SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS

Why is it important to know an individuals values? Although they dont have a direct impact on behavior, values strongly influence a persons attitudes. So knowledge of an individuals value system can provide insight into his/her attitudes. Given that peoples values differ, managers can use the Rokeach Value Survey to assess potential employees and determine if their values align with the dominant values of the organization. An employees performance and satisfaction are likely to be higher if his/her values fit well with the organization. For instance, the person who
49

places high importance on imagination, independence, and freedom is likely to be poorly matched with an organization that seeks conformity from its employees. Managers are more likely to appreciate, evaluate positively, and allocate rewards to employees who fit in, and employees are more likely to be satisfied if they perceive that they do fit. This argues for management to strive during the selection of new employees to find job candidates who not only have the ability, experience, and motivation to perform, but also a value system that is compatible with the organizations. Managers should be interested in their employees attitudes because attitudes give warnings of potential problems and because they influence behavior. Satisfied and committed employees, for instance, have lower rates of turnover and absenteeism. Given that managers want to keep resignations and absences downespecially among their more productive employeesthey will want to do those things that will generate positive job attitudes. Managers should also be aware that employees will try to reduce cognitive dissonance. More important, dissonance can be managed. If employees are required to engage in activities that appear inconsistent to them or that are at odds with their attitudes, the pressures to reduce the resulting dissonance are lessened when the employee perceives that the dissonance is externally imposed and is beyond his/her control or if the rewards are significant enough to offset the dissonance.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW

1. Contrast the Protestant work ethic, existential, pragmatic, and Generation X typologies with the terminal values identified in the Rokeach Value Survey. Answer The author has integrated a number of recent analyses of work values into a four-stage model. Exhibit 3-3 segments employees by the era in which they entered the workforce. Workers who entered the workforce from the early 1940s through the early 1960s. Their terminal valuescomfortable life and family security. Employees who entered the workforce during the 1960s through the mid-1970s. Their terminal valuesfreedom and equality. Individuals who entered the workforce from the mid-1970s through the late 1980s. Their terminal valuesa sense of accomplishment and social recognition. Generation X. Their terminal valuestrue friendship, happiness, and pleasure. An understanding that individuals values differ but tend to reflect the societal values of the period in which they grew up can be a valuable aid in explaining and predicting behavior. 2. Contrast the cognitive and affective components of an attitude. Answer Attitudes are evaluative statements either favorable or unfavorableconcerning objects, people, or events. A belief is a value statement and the cognitive component of an attitude. It sets the stage for the more critical part of an attitudeits affective component. Affect is the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude. Attitude essentially refers to the affect part of the three components. In contrast to values, your attitudes are less stable. In organizations, attitudes are important because they affect job behavior. 3. What is cognitive dissonance, and how is it related to attitudes? Answer Leon Festinger, in the late 1950s, proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance, seeking to explain the linkage between attitudes and behavior. Cognitive dissonance refers to any incompatibility that an individual might perceive between two or more of his/her attitudes, or between his/her behavior and attitudes. Festinger argued that any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and that individuals will attempt to reduce the dissonance. The organizational implications are a greater predictability of the propensity to engage in attitude and behavioral change. The greater the dissonanceafter it has been moderated by importance, choice, and rewards factorsthe greater the pressures to reduce it. 4. What is self-perception theory? How does it increase our ability to predict behavior? Answer Self-perception theory argues that attitudes are used to make sense out of an action. Contrary to cognitive dissonance theory, attitudes are just casual verbal statements. Researchers achieve higher correlations by pursuing whether or not behavior influences attitudes. When asked about an attitude toward some object, individuals recall their behavior relevant to that object and then infer their attitude from their past behavior. While the traditional attitude-behavior relationship is generally positive, the behavior-attitude relationship is stronger.

50

5. What contingency factors can improve the statistical relationship between attitudes and behavior? Answer Job satisfaction is an individuals general attitude toward his/her job. Jobs require interaction with co-workers and bosses, following organizational rules and policies, meeting performance standards, living with working conditions that are often less than ideal, and the like. This means that an employees assessment of how satisfied or dissatisfied he or she is with his/her job is a complex summation of a number of discrete job elements. Recent research has demonstrated that attitudes significantly predict future behavior. The most powerful moderators. The importance of the attitude reflects fundamental values, self-interest, or identification with individuals or groups that a person values. Its specificity. The more specific the attitude and the more specific the behavior, the stronger the link between the two. Its accessibility. Attitudes that are easily remembered are more likely to predict behavior than attitudes that are not accessible in memory. Whether there exist social pressures. Discrepancies between attitudes and behavior are more likely to occur where social pressures to behave in certain ways hold exceptional power. Whether a person has direct experience with the attitude. The attitude-behavior relationship is likely to be much stronger if an attitude refers to an individuals direct personal experience. 6. Are most people satisfied with their jobs? Explain. Answer A recent Gallup poll of Americans nationwide showed that 72% rated their level of satisfaction with their place of employment at 4 or 5. The jobs were generally meeting the primary needs of workers. Factors critical to their satisfaction and job performance: the opportunity to do what they do best; having their opinions count; and getting the opportunity to learn and grow. Eighty-two respondents indicated they had the opportunity to do what they do best every day, and 84% said they had the opportunity to learn and grow on the job. Studies consistently show that workers are satisfied with their jobs. Between 70 and 80% report theyre satisfied with their jobs. Why? People tend to gravitate toward jobs that are compatible with their interests, values, and abilities. Based on our knowledge of cognitive dissonance theory, we might expect employees to resolve inconsistencies between dissatisfaction with their jobs and their staying with those jobs by not reporting the dissatisfaction. 7. Are happy workers productive workers? Answer Not necessarily. While happy workers arent necessarily productive workers, the evidence suggests that productivity is likely to lead to satisfaction. Organizations with more satisfied employees tend to be more effective than organizations with less satisfied employees. It might be true that happy organizations are more productive. 8. What is the relationship between job satisfaction and absenteeism? Turnover? Which is the stronger relationship? Answer Managers interest in job satisfaction tends to center on its effect on employee performance. Research shows a consistent negative relationship between satisfaction and absenteeism. It makes sense that dissatisfied employees are more likely to miss work, but other factors have an impact on the relationship and reduce the correlation coefficient. Satisfaction is also negatively related to turnover, but the correlation is stronger than what we found for absenteeism. Again, other factors such as labor market conditions, expectations about alternative job opportunities, and length of tenure with the organization are important constraints on the actual decision to leave ones current job. Evidence indicates that an important moderator of the satisfaction-turnover relationship is the employees level of performance. 9. How can managers get employees to more readily accept working with colleagues who are different from themselves? Answer Managers can initiate diversity programs which include a self-evaluation phase. People are pressed to examine themselves and to confront ethnic and cultural stereotypes they might hold. Additional activities designed to change attitudes include arranging for people to do volunteer work in community or social service
51

centers in order to meet face to face with individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds and using exercises that let participants feel what its like to be different. 10. Contrast exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect as employee responses to job dissatisfaction. Answer Exhibit 3-6 reviews these four responses and how they differ from one another along two dimensions: constructiveness/destructiveness and activity/passivity. Exit: Behavior directed toward leaving the organization, including looking for a new position as well as resigning. Voice: Actively and constructively attempting to improve conditions, including suggesting improvements, discussing problems with superiors, and some forms of union activity. Loyalty: Passively but optimistically waiting for conditions to improve, including speaking up for the organization in the face of external criticism and trusting the organization and its management to do the right thing. Neglect: Passively allowing conditions to worsen, including chronic absenteeism or lateness, reduced effort, and increased error rate. Exit and neglect behaviors encompass our performance variablesproductivity, absenteeism, and turnover. Voice and loyalty constructive behaviors allow individuals to tolerate unpleasant situations or to revive satisfactory working conditions.

QUESTIONS FOR CRITICAL THINKING

1. Thirty-five years ago, young employees we hired were ambitious, conscientious, hardworking, and honest. Todays young workers dont have the same values. Do you agree or disagree with this managers comments? Support your position. Answer This question represents the differences in perception and opinion among cohorts. Including nontraditional students or guests in this discussion will create an enlightening experience for both sides. Students should note the different influences on each of the cohorts and how those influences are demonstrated in their behavior. An understanding that individuals values differ but tend to reflect the societal values of the period in which they grew up can be a valuable aid in explaining and predicting behavior. Employees in their late 30s and 60s, for instance, are more likely to be conservative and accepting of authority than their existential coworkers in their early 50s. And workers under 35 are more likely than the other groups to balk at having to work overtime or weekends and more prone to leave a job in mid-career to pursue another that provides more leisure time. See Exhibit 3-3. 2. Do you think there might be any positive and significant relationship between the possession of certain personal values and successful career progression in organizations like Merrill Lynch, the AFL-CIO, and the city of Clevelands police department? Discuss. Answer The position of your text is yes, you would, for several reasons. People tend to gravitate toward jobs that are compatible with their interests, values, and abilities. Values lay the foundation for the understanding of attitudes and motivation and because they influence our perceptions. Values generally influence attitudes and behavior. 3. Managers should do everything they can to enhance the job satisfaction of their employees. Do you agree or disagree? Support your position. Answer Students will probably argue for yes, however the reality is there may not be any productivity or bottom line positive reason for doing so. In the real world, managers interest in job satisfaction tends to center on its effect on employee performance. Happy workers arent necessarily productive workers, but evidence suggests that productivity is likely to lead to satisfaction. Also, organizations with more satisfied employees tend to be more effective than organizations with less satisfied employees. It might be true that happy organizations are more productive. Also, it makes sense that dissatisfied employees are more likely to miss work, but other factors have an impact on the relationship and reduce the correlation coefficient. Reference the Sears, Roebuck study in the text.

52

4. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using regular attitude surveys to monitor employee job satisfaction. Answer Using attitude surveys on a regular basis provides managers with valuable feedback on how employees perceive their working conditions. Policies and practices that management views as objective and fair may be seen as inequitable by employees in general or by certain groups of employees. Employee behaviors are often based on perceptions, not reality. The use of regular attitude surveys can alert management to potential problems and employees intentions early so that action can be taken to prevent repercussions? On the other hand, the use of surveys may create an expectation for change that may or may not actually come about. 5. When employees are asked whether they would again choose the same work or whether they would want their children to follow in their footsteps, typically less than half answer in the affirmative. What, if anything, do you think this implies about employee job satisfaction? Answer This could indicate something relevant, such as attitude survey results are not accurate; it could reflect something totally irrelevant to what is being measured, i.e., parents desire for the children to do better than they are, so they wish for a better professional career for their children. Or it could reflect that, while the parents like their jobs, they know that their careers are not good matches for them. This question is too broad to draw accurate conclusions.

POINT-COUNTERPOINT Managers Can Create Satisfied Employees

Point SUMMARY A review of the evidence has identified four factors conducive to high levels of employee job satisfaction. Mentally challenging work. Equitable rewards. Supportive working conditions. Supportive colleagues. Studies generally find that employee satisfaction is increased when the immediate supervisor is understanding and friendly, offers praise for good performance, listens to employees opinions, and shows a personal interest in them. CounterPoint The notion that managers and organizations can control the level of employee job satisfaction is inherently attractive. There is a growing body of evidence that challenges that idea. Evidence seems to show that employee job satisfaction is largely genetically determined. You either have happy genes, or you dont. Approximately 80% of peoples differences in happiness, or subjective well-being, have been found to be attributable to their different genes. Analysis of satisfaction data for a selected sample of individuals over a 50-year period found consistently stable results over time. This and other research suggests that an individuals disposition toward life is established by his/her genetic makeup, holds over time, and carries over into his/her disposition toward work. Given these findings, there is probably little that most managers can do to influence employee satisfaction. The only place where managers will have any significant influence will be through their control of the selection process. Teaching Notes 1. Do this exercise before having the students read Point-CounterPoint. 2. Have students think about two to three jobs they have had, outside of family chores. [Working for a family business is okay.] 3. Ask them to list the jobs at the top of the sheet of paper. 4. Next have them list what they really liked about the jobs and what they disliked about the jobs. 5. Ask 510 volunteers to write their job titles on the board and list 35 things they really like/disliked about each job. 6. With the class, look for commonalties across jobs and consolidate them into a list of things people like and dont like about work.
53

7. Have students then discuss what managers or supervisors could do to increase the likes and decrease the dislikes. 8. Ask if these changes would cause them or others to work harder. Have them explain why it would or wouldnt. 9. Lead the students to draw conclusions about how much their supervisors or managers control things that would increase their like or dislike, motivation or demotivation for the job.
[E.A. Locke, The Nature and Causes of Job Satisfaction, in M.D. Dunnette (ed.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Chicago: Rand McNally), 1976, pp. 131928. See, for instance, T.A. Judge and S. Watanabe, Another Look at the Job Satisfaction-Life Satisfaction Relationship, Journal of Applied Psychology, December 1993, pp. 93948; R.D. Arvey, B.P. McCall, T.J. Bouchard, Jr., and P. Taubman, Genetic Influences on Job Satisfaction and Work Values, Personality and Individual Differences, July 1994, pp. 2133; and D. Lykken and A. Tellegen, Happiness is a Stochastic Phenomenon, Psychological Science, May 1996, pp. 18689.]

TEAM EXERCISE Assessing Work Attitudes Purpose: To compare attitudes about the workforce. Time: Approximately 30 minutes. Procedure: Answer the following five questions by circling one choice: 1. Generally, American workers a. are highly motivated and hardworking. b. try to give a fair days effort. c. will put forth effort if you make it worthwhile. d. try to get by with a low level of effort. e. are lazy and/or poorly motivated. 2. The people I have worked with a. are highly motivated and hardworking. b. try to give a fair days effort. c. will put forth effort if you make it worthwhile. d. try to get by with a low level of effort. e. are lazy and/or poorly motivated. 3. Compared to foreign workers, American workers are a. more productive. b. equally productive. c. less productive. 4. Over the past twenty years, American workers have a. improved in overall quality of job performance. b. remained about the same in quality of job performance. c. deteriorated in overall quality of job performance. 5. If you have a low opinion of the U.S. workforce, give the one step (or action) that could be taken that would lead to the most improvement. Group Discussion 1. Break into groups of 3 to 5 members each. Compare your answers to the five questions. 2. For each question where one or more members disagree, discuss why each member chose his/her answer. 3. After this discussion, members are free to change their original answer. Did any in your group do so? 4. Your instructor will provide data from other student attitude responses to these questions, then lead the class in discussing the implications or accuracy of these attitudes. Teaching Notes 1. There is no correct answer for this instrument. 2. It is designed to reveal what the students think and then foster discussion, as there will be a difference of opinion. What is critical is for students to reflect on their differences of opinion and think about their origins. What are their perceptions of hourly workers, and how did they develop them?
54

3. Once they complete the survey, consider asking them to complete it again in the role of one of the following. A parent A grandparent A social conservative A social liberal 4. Discuss the differences and why they think their character would have answered the questions differently or in the same way they did.
[Source: Based on D. R. Brown, Dealing with Student Conceptions and Misconceptions about Worker Attitudes and Productivity, Journal of Management Education, May 1991, pp. 25964.]

MODEL RESPONSES FOR INTERNET SEARCH EXERCISES

1. Find the best and latest data you can that describes the level of job satisfaction in (a) the United States, (b) Canada, and (c) Japan. What conclusions are you able to draw from these data? Answer Web sites with articles discussing job satisfaction among U.S. employees may be found at: http://www.inc.com/incmagazine/archives/06980911.html http://www.inc.com/incmagazine/archives/27960621.html http://www.inc.com/extra/stories/06029823.html Some evidence of job satisfaction in Canada and Japan may be found at http://www.inc.com/beyondthemag/between_the_pages/gallup.html 2. Find the results from three different organizations attitude surveys. What, if anything, did these survey have in common? Answer Results of a range of surveys may be found at: http://www.inc.com/incmagazine/archives/06980911.html http://www.workforceonline.com/archive/article/000/04/66.xci (Free registration required) http://www.workforceonline.com/archive/article/000/04/48.xci (Free registration required) http://www.workforceonline.com/archive/article/000/04/70.xci (Free registration required) http://www.gazetteonline.com/money/mon185.htm

CASE INCIDENT Will Volvos Perks Give Ford Sticker Shock?

SUMMARY Ford Motor Companys purchase of Volvo in 1999 is likely to change the life of Volvo employees. Volvos employees enjoy a wealth of benefits: company gym, Olympic-size swimming pool, physical therapy sessions, etc., for $1.50 a day. In contrast, employees at U.S. Ford plants usually have a free-of-charge fitness center. But the facilities are nothing like the health club at Volvo. Volvo employees are worried and have numerous questions about how things will change. Will the quality of their work life change? They hope that Ford can grasp that their system is better for the company and the workers. What is Fords position? The companys CEO says only, I respect the Swedish heritage. But he adds, nothing is safe in this world; there are no guarantees. Questions 1. Is there any way Ford can take away employee benefits at Volvo without hurting job satisfaction? Discuss. Answer Probably not. The best Ford can do is offer tradeoffs, offer something in exchange for what they are taking away. In all likelihood, this is going to be a very difficult organizational merger. Also, point out to students the two different cultural perspectives on employee benefits. In Europe, companies are expected to provide the social benefit net. In the United States, it is an individual responsibility. There may actually be Swedish laws that will inhibit Ford touching much of the Swedish benefit package. 2. If Volvo benefits are kept intact, what influence will it have on Ford employees in the United States? Answer Ford workers will probably demand that their benefits match. It will probably lead to a work stoppage, i.e. strike.

55

3. Do you think concern about work-family conflicts are greater in Sweden than in the United States? Discuss. Answer Students answers will vary. The reality is that they are important in both countries; it is just that Americans have a culture of separating work and family life. 4. What are the implications of this case for mergers and acquisitions? Answer This is going to be a disaster. Whoever thought this one up should be . . . . While the product lines may fit well, the employee/labor relations are going to be very difficult. The only two real long-time solutions are to either keep the two companies as separate entities or raise Ford benefits to the level of Volvo. Decreasing benefits will not only demotivate Swedish workers, it will discourage Ford workers in their hopes for better benefit packages.
[Source: Based on A. Latour, Detroit Meets a Worker Paradise, Wall Street Journal, March 3, 1999, p. B1.]

56